On a swing through San Francisco, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dropped by Twitter headquarters where she praised "girls who code" and hoped social media would one day be used to resolve political and diplomatic problems.

Twitter's headquarters is a frequent destination for world figures, celebrities and politicians looking to amplify their message by addressing the employees of the popular social network.

Usually those visits only leak out through tweets and photos from staffers, but this time her talk was streamed on the internet, said Katie Stanton, vice president of global media and a former staffer of Ms Clinton in the State Department.

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Before anyone even got a question in, Ms Stanton made sure her former boss was aware the non-profit organisation Girls Who Code was in the audience, prompting technology enthusiast Ms Clinton to praise them immediately. Girls Who Code is a New York-based outfit that aims to provide computer science education to a million young women by 2020.

And before she answered her first question, from education activist Malala Yousafzai, Ms Clinton added: "It's very exciting to me to look out at all of you here and to know that you're helping to connect the world and share ideas, and give me a forum from time to time, which I'm deeply grateful for."

Ms Yousafzai had used the hashtag #AskHillary to ask what the world would look like when there were more woman leaders and heads of state.

Ms Clinton said more women leaders would make a difference in the world, and they would be able to lend support to people like Ms Yousafzai, of whom she was a big fan.

In answering a question about social media's role in diplomacy and the business of the State Department, Ms Clinton revealed hopes that for now appeared out of reach.

"It's really important for not just individuals, but organisations and even nations to have a social media presence. However, if it is used primarily to score points, to engage in the kind of back and forth that is marked by trade insults and, really, propaganda, sometimes misinformation, it's not fulfilling its best use of trying to connect people and overcome differences and try to resolve problems."

She cited the conflict in the Middle East and "action by Hamas ... to provoke Israel ... to defend itself ... and the unfortunate effects of any conflict with innocent people caught in the cross fires".

"I'd hope, maybe it's a Pollyanna-ish hope, we see a maturing of the role of social media not just to score points ... but to try to create space for real conversations, where people actually listen to each other and where maybe there can be more outreach through social media and try to create reconciliation.

"I think we're sorely in need of that around the world right now."

She said the real promise of social media was to help people and nations "find our common humanity".

"There are a lot of people communicating, but they are not listening ... too often people use it as a weapon instead of an opportunity ... think of it as a tool of outreach, a tool of negotiation and maybe a tool of resolution."

Ms Clinton gave no clues to her plans for a presidential run in 2016 when she answered the question: “If you became president of the UnitedStates, what would be your first action item on the agenda?” She said: “Answering hypothetically ... the next president should work to grow the economy, increase upward mobility, and decrease inequality.”

@HillaryClinton was a latecomer to Twitter. She joined up a year ago and, despite having only sent 86 tweets to date, has more than 1.6 million followers.

Her Twitter bio includes wife, mom, lawyer and political jobs such as US Senator and Secretary of State. It also has "hair icon" and "pantsuit aficionado" and, perhaps most tantalising, the last word in her bio is "TBD".

8 comments so far

You have to feel for Hillary Clinton, the world renown expert in reconciliation. Hilary's comment that 'Julia Gillard faced outrageous sexism' comes from Hillary's real life experiences. How Hillary forgave Bill Clinton for his infidelity and deceitful lying is truly remarkable. What a woman.

Commenter

enough is enough

Date and time

July 22, 2014, 8:52PM

Indeed the lengths that Hillary has gone to to get her hands on the reins of power is extraordinary. I would imagine after selling her soul it would have been a long long life had she failed. To the brave go the spoils. Bravo.

Commenter

J

Date and time

July 23, 2014, 11:12AM

Not about forgiveness. It's about Bill and Hillary Inc. They are not like us.

Commenter

Barry

Date and time

July 28, 2014, 3:29PM

I am not sure if "girls who code" will encourage girls into actual computer coding or political activism.

Seriously do you listen to a lawyer or politician encouraging you to code? I'm puzzling because i used to learn actual coding by proper engineers.

Commenter

Gerson

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 22, 2014, 9:09PM

Clinton's made some very strange statements lately. Australia/China, Gillard, now girls coding - and probably others. Despite the fact that she chooses her words carefully, some of those comments show incredibly obvious double-standards. The latest one girls and coding. If they want to code, there's nothing stopping them other than what stops anyone.

Commenter

Brianoh

Location

sydney

Date and time

July 23, 2014, 9:23AM

I think the world could be a lot better with women leaders but not with the type of leadership style of Hillary Clinton. She is the architect of Obama's foreign policy and this policy is doomed to fail. In Iraq and Afghanistan it created civil war that continue to escalate, in East Asia it stirred up problem in Asia/Pacific region, in Europe Russian and Ukraine conflict, in Africa continuous social unrest after those colour revolutions. Obama is widely regard as the worst president in US and if Hillary gets elected I wouldn't be surprised at all she will be ended up as one of the worst president and may even outdoes her husband.

Commenter

Roge

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

July 27, 2014, 7:40PM

Is Hilary genuine ? Her comments about our Juliar are an insight into her. Did Hilary forgive Bill or was it just too expensive not to do so given this power trip she is on to be president. Just another all american gal hmnn.

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